Men's Basketball | 2/17/2017 3:47:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Heading down the home stretch of the regular season, the Texas State men's basketball team makes a key trip to the state of Georgia this weekend. First up is a contest with Georgia Southern, a half a game ahead of the Bobcats in the Sun Belt Conference standings in a three-way tie for third place, on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT in the Hanner Fieldhouse.
 
Entering the game, Texas State is off to the program's best start in 18 years at 15-9 and sports an 8-4 record in conference play. The Eagles are 16-10 overall and 9-4 in the SBC.
 
Live stats, audio and video will be available for the game with Bill Culhane calling the game on either 1300 The Zone (1300 AM) or 103.1 FM out of Austin and on KTSW 89.9 FM out of San Marcos. The game will also be streamed on ESPN3 with Greg Talbott and Rex Castillo providing the play-by-play and analyst, respectively.
 
Last Time Out
Texas State held off Arkansas State by four points to earn its fifth win in the last six games. The victory matched the Bobcats' overall and conference win total from last season.
 
Kavin Gilder-Tilbury recorded his ninth 20-point game of the season with a game-high 21 points and came up just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds. He totaled six blocks against the Red Wolves to set a new career-high and was one rejection away from tying the program's single-game record. In Monday's game, the senior also moved past Cameron Johnson (2007-11) for ninth place on the school's career scoring list and currently sits at 1,202 points.
 
Nijal Pearson added 15 points with a 7-for-13 performance at the free throw line. Both he and Ojai Black dished out a game-high four assists apiece. With his four dimes, Black moved into 10 place on the Bobcat career assist list having handed out 233 in his career.
 
Off the bench, Nedeljko Prijovic netted six points and knocked down two key free throws late in the game. The Serbian also retrieved five rebounds and dished out two assists.
 
Scouting Georgia Southern
Georgia Southern is coming off a tough road trip in which the team dropped games at Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina. In the Hanner Fieldhouse this season, the Eagles are 9-1 and have defeated all seven Sun Belt Conference opponents they have faced. Their lone loss at home this season took place on Dec. 4 and ended with Florida Gulf Coast escaping in an 85-82 contest.
 
GS is led by the sensational sophomore duo of Tookie Brown and Ike Smith. Lead the conference in scoring at 19.6 points per game along with the pacing the Eagles in field goal percentage (49.3) and blocks is Smith. He has made 49 three-pointers, shooting 40.8 percent from long range and is grabbing 5.1 rebounds per game. Brown is putting up 18.1 ppg with a team best 4.1 assists per game, 41 steals and 77.0 percentage at the free throw line.
 
Mike Hughes contributes 11.5 ppg thanks to 49 treys. The junior is making 37.6 percent of his shots, 36.8 percent from beyond the arc and 75.8 percent at the charity stripe.
 
The top three-point threat is Jake Allsmiller. Of his 65 made field goals this season, 62 have been from beyond the arc. He leads the team and is third in the conference with a 42.5 three-point percentage and is averaging 2.4 made triples per contest on his way to putting up 7.9 ppg.
 
Leading GS in rebounding is Montae Glenn at 5.2 boards per game. The 6-foot, 8-inch sophomore is putting up 5.6 ppg having made 59-of-97 shot attempts. Also grabbing 5.0 rpg is Coye Simmons.
 
All-Time Series
The all-time series is led 4-1 by the Eagles. Texas State's lone victory came on Dec. 30, 2015 at home by the score of 80-66 in the SBC opener for both teams. The Bobcats have dropped all three games they have played in Statesboro, including a tough 66-62 decision last year, by single-digits.
 
The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your school's ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the #FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.
 
For the latest on Texas State men's basketball, visit the official website of Texas State athletics at www.txstatebobcats.com, follow the team on Twitter at @TxStateMBB, Instagram at @TxStateMBB and like on Facebook at /TexasStateMensBasketball.